


Memory's Bond

by bittenfeld



Category: Tokyo Ghost Trip
Genre: M/M, Male Slash, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 22:11:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15716097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittenfeld/pseuds/bittenfeld
Summary: The Inui cousins thought they had broken the Shinigami's hold on Setsu's father.  But the Shinigami still wants Setsu, and he doesn't let go of his puppets that easily...





	Memory's Bond

“I’m gonna kill him.  I’m gonna kill him, then I’m gonna summon him back so I can kill him again.  And again, and again, and…”

Cautiously Kai looked up from his abacus and the meager red-inked Inui family budget spreadsheet, a slight hesitant smile on his lips, to glance over at the owner of the tirade slouched at the end of the sofa.  “… umm… Who are you planning to kill, Set-chan?”

Glowering gaze speared the eldest Inui sibling seated at the desk across the room.  “You! you lying thieving despicable excuse for a priest!”

“Me?”  Kai questioned with a nervous little laugh, as though he had no idea what his younger cousin was referring to.

“Yes, you!”

From his comfortable position lying on the couch, ankles crossed in Setsu’s lap, a newspaper covering his face, Sōwa murmured, “It’s against the law for one Inui to kill another.”

Setsu snatched the paper.  “Where does it say that?  Huh??  Where does it say I can’t kill my miserable thieving cousin who deprives his starving family of meat day after day??  Huh?  Where does it say that??”

Squinting against the intrusive overhead light, nap disturbed, Sōwa reached an arm to re-cover his eyes.  “I dunno, it’s written somewhere, in the family rule book, I guess.”

“What rule book?  There’s no such thing as the family rule book!  I’m killing him – I don’t care what any stupid rule book says!”

Stepping behind the couch to rest his elbows near Setsu’s head, the youngest member of the family reminded, “Set-chan, if you kill Kai-nii, you’ll go to prison for life.  And then how could the family carry on the Itako business without a summoner?”

“Not a problem, Kōmyō,” Ryū assured, strolling into the room.  “I’ll take over the summoning.”

“Ryū-kun!”  Kōmyō complained, straightening up to face their distant branch cousin.  “Don’t sound so accommodating!  We’re talking about Kai-nii’s life here.”

Kai gave another nervous little laugh.  “Umm… have I ever lied to you guys?”

Three voices echoed in unison.  “Yes!!”

“umm… I’ve always said we’ll have some meat… just as soon as we can afford it.”

Setsu folded his arms defiantly.  “Yeah, well you’re still a thief!”

“How am I a thief?  what have I stolen from you?”

“My dreams!  I was having a nice nap dreaming I was about to dig into a nice juicy full plate loaded with yakiniku oozing luscious juices, and bacon dripping with fat, and huge plump chicken thighs, and…”

“Stop it,” Sōwa muttered, nudging his cousin with a stockinged foot.  “You’re making my stomach grumble.”

Another death-threatening glare impaled the auburn-haired head of the family across the room.  “… yeah, well, anyway, just as soon as I was about to put it into my mouth, it turned into tofu!!  And it’s _all your fault !!_ ”

“Sorry…”

“Yeah, well, sorry won’t cut it.  Anyway, no jury in the world would convict me when they hear what a mean, miserly tyrant you are who won’t even buy meat for his family.”

“Hey, but just think,” Ryū suddenly reminded.  “In prison, they serve meat to the convicts.  Every day – meat, for the rest of our lives…!”

And abruptly all eyes in the room turned hungry eager predatorial stares on the man at the desk.

“umm…” Kai laughed nervously, pushing back defensively in his chair under the all-round assault.  “Okay, meat – I promise!  Very soon!  Very very soon…!  Really!  I promise!” amending very quietly under his breath, “… just as soon as we can afford it…”

“I heard that!” Setsu accused.  “That proves it!... I’m gonna…”

A heavy rap on the front door interrupted him.  Heavy, slow irregular.

“Can’t they use the doorbell?” Sōwa complained.

“What does it matter, as long as they’re a paying customer?” Ryū reminded, going to the door.

Another heavy laborious knock.

“Can I help… you…”  His voice died away in shock as the visitor staggered in.  “Omigod,” he gasped in recognition.

Weakly the tall slender dark man in a black business suit gasped one name, “Setsu…” then collapsed on the floor.

The others rushed in to assist, and then it was Setsu’s turn to echo his cousin.  “Omigod…  Dad… Dad, take it easy!” he urged, as he and Kai supported the older man to help him to the couch.  For a ghost, he weighed as much in death as he had in life.

“Setsu…” Inui Shō managed as they assisted him to sit down.  Weakly he slumped, head falling back to rest on the back of the couch.  “I’m sorry…”

“Dad what’s wrong?  I thought you were resting peacefully now.  What happened?”

A wan smile pulled at the man’s lips.  “I thought I could too.”

“We released you from the Shinigami.  What’s the matter, Dad?”

Taking several trembling breaths before he could answer, the elder Inui clutched his son’s hand.  “It seems… the Shinigami… is a lot tougher than we assumed…  And I should have realized… that he doesn’t like to release his puppets that easily…”

Sitting down on the other side of the couch, Kai handed him a glass of water, then slid an arm behind his head to prop him up enough to drink.  “Tell us, please, Oji-san,” he urged gently, “what happened?”

Inui managed a swallow.  “The Shinigami wants Setsu.”

Kai nodded, “Yes, that’s what you – he – was saying – to take Setsu by his eighteenth birthday.  But we stopped him.”  He helped him take another swallow, then when Shō handed back the glass, Kai set it on the coffee table, then carefully took his uncle’s free hand.

Weakly the elder Inui shook his head.  “No.  He still wants him.  Setsu, you are stronger than you realize, you have powers you don’t even know yet.  And you will continue to increase in ability.  He wants you, to groom you to work beside him, pulling in souls that are difficult for him to reach.”

“Like hell I’m gonna help that bastard!” Setsu insisted, eyes moistening.  “He’ll never take me – don’t worry about that, Dad.”

“When I made the deal to become recruited, I didn’t realize what his true intention was.  He said he wanted to recruit you too when you were old enough.  And he gave me the extra year of life to be with you.  I didn’t see anything wrong with it at the time, and I dearly wanted that extra time with you.  But now, he is saying I broke the deal.”

“It was no deal if he lied to you,” Kōmyō reminded.

“Well, he doesn’t see it that way.  He would like to destroy me, but he can’t since I’m a Shinigami too.  So instead, he’s torturing me now by burning my soul until I bring Setsu to him.  But I won’t give in to him.  I won’t let him have you, Setsu.  I’ll do everything I can, no matter what he does to me.  He controlled me before, so I did his bidding – no, more than that, I _wanted_ to do his bidding.”  His gaze moved over the young men hovering near.  “I’m sorry I hurt you.  I would have killed you all.  I wish I could atone for that.”  Inui’s gaze lingered on Sōwa and Ryū.  “And the two of you – my nephews – I hurt you grievously.  I can never make up for that.  I’m so very sorry.”

A little defiantly Sōwa looked away.  “It’s not something I’ll ever forget.”

“Sōwa!” Kai chided, then turned back to his uncle.  “It wasn’t your fault, Oji-san,” he assured quietly.  “You were under his control.  Sōwa knows that too.”

“No, he has a right to be angry,” Inui Shō admitted.  Trembling in pain, he had to grab a breath before continuing, “If you all hadn't faced me and broken his control, Sōwa – or Ryū – would be dead now.  Or Setsu would be under the Shinigami’s power.”

“I’m not angry, Oji-san,” Sōwa acknowledged.

"Neither am I," Ryū agreed.

Desperately Setsu looked over his father’s quivering body.  “Is there something we can do right now to stop your pain?  Kai, can you erect a barrier?”

“I can try,” Kai agreed.

But the elder Inui just shook his head weakly.  “I don’t have the strength right now to stay much longer.  It’s all I can do to incarnate myself while fighting him off for these few minutes.  Perhaps later I can come again.  I just came now to warn you, to let you know that you're all still in danger, and that he can still use me.  He can manipulate me.  So some other time if I come to you, I may not fully be myself.  You’ll have to be on your guard.”

“Dad, we’ll fight him again.  We won once, we can do it again.”

“He’s too strong.  I think perhaps the only way to break the link between you and him might be for me to destroy my own soul.”

Frantically Setsu gripped his father’s shoulders.  “Don’t talk like that, Dad!  We can fight him!  We’ll bring in the entire Inui family if we have to!  You are _not_ going to throw your soul away – do you hear me?!”  Again he took his father's hand, clasping it as if to imbue his own strength to protect the older man.

Isuzu stepped close.  “And I may not be family member, and I’m not an Itako, but I will fight too, Inui-san,” he promised with a slight bow.

Weakly the father smiled at the young man standing before him, then glanced between Setsu and Kai on either side of him.  “You have good friends.”

“Of course we do,” Kai agreed with a smile of his own.  “And Isuzu-kun is an honorary Inui anyway.”

Isuzu beamed.  “I am?”

“Absolutely,” Ryū agreed, moving close behind and laying an intimate arm on Isuzu’s shoulders.  “And, Oji-san, I will send word to all the branch family.  You aren’t fighting alone.”

“Thank you…”  Inui’s solidity was beginning to dissipate.  “Now I’m afraid I have to leave… I don’t have the energy to remain any longer…”

“But don’t do anything stupid!”  Setsu begged frantically, as his father’s hand faded from their grasp.  “Please!  We’ll figure something out!  Please, Dad!  Promise me!”

Sōwa stepped forward to lay a stolid glare on their uncle.  “Maa, Oji… you make Set-chan cry and I _will_ be mad at you.”

“Yes, please, Oji-san,” Kōmyō added, “Just remember – no matter what the Shinigami does to you – just keep holding in mind that we’ll all work together and we’ll break his grip on you.”

The faint wisp of a smile touched Inui’s lips before he vanished completely.  “I'll try,” he assured.  And then he was gone.

Sōwa frowned in concern at his cousin who remained on the couch, expression vacant, hand still in position to hold his father’s hand.  “You okay, Set-chan?”

Setsu blinked.  “Umm, yeah…” 

“Kai-kun,” Ryū mentioned, “you’re the exorcist – could you sense any evil aura?  Was that really our uncle, or could it have been the Shinigami to trick us?”

Kai shook his head.  “It wasn’t the Shinigami.  It was really Oji-san.”

With a sharp sigh, abruptly Setsu stood up.  “I need some fresh air,” was all he said, and strode out, slamming the door behind himself.

* * * * *

For a long time the others remained silent, each absorbed in his own thoughts.  Finally Isuzu asked hesitantly, “Do you think he will really destroy his own soul?  He wouldn’t really do that would he?”

Nobody wanted to answer.  Until Ryū finally spoke up, to say out loud what everybody knew.  “He might, if he thinks it’s the only way to protect Set-chan.”

Now it was Kai who started for the door.  “I need to get out too.  I’ll be back later.”

“Do you want me to locate him for you, Kai-nii?” Kōmyō offered.

Kai shook his head.  “No.  I think I know where he’s gone.  I just need to get out and take a walk anyway.”

He found Setsu sitting on a bench at the pier, the same place where Sōwa had been hit by the speeding car, the same place where they had confronted the Shinigami, the same place where Setsu’s father had fallen in his arms.

Setsu’s eyes were moist, Kai could see he was on the verge of crying.  Without a word, Kai sat beside him.  He would let his cousin speak first if Setsu wanted to.  Together they sat in silence, until finally Setsu spoke up, and his voice was tight.  “Why did he do something so stupid?  Why??  Stupid…”

“Set-chan…” Kai murmured.

Now tears welled.  “He deserted me when I was six, he deserted me when he decided to become the Shinigami’s puppet, now he’s going to desert me again and destroy his own soul.  Why?”

Gently Kai put a hand on his cousin’s knee.  “I know you’re scared for your father,” he consoled softly.

“Who says I’m scared?” Setsu muttered, but the glisten in his eyes belied his words.

Kai’s hand squeezed comfortingly.  “Set-chan, I’m scared too.  But we’ll figure something out.  We will.”

“But why would he become a Shinigami?  Of all the stupid things…  He was an Itako.  He knew what the Shinigami can be like.  And then he almost killed Sōwa and Ryū-kun – and would have killed you all – to get to me.”

In sympathy Kai shook his head.  “Desperation clouds people’s minds, and especially knowing he only had a month to live.  You heard him say, he dearly wanted that extra year with you.  The Shinigami was the only one who could grant him that.  And he used your father’s desperation to trick him, knowing he could twist that desire to turn him into a demon and get him to bring you over.”

“I won’t let him destroy his soul,”  Setsu insisted.  “I’ll summon him again, and this time I’ll hold him here.  I won’t let him go back.”

“Set-chan, you can’t do that.”

“Why not?” the younger man challenged.  “You heard him – he said I have powers I’m not even aware of now.  I’ll bring him here and keep him so he can’t go back and destroy himself.”

Kai shook his head.  “Number one, you _don’t_ know what powers you have, you don’t know how to handle them, you don’t know what damage they could cause uncontrolled.  And more important, number two, you don’t have the right to do that to him.  That isn’t what the Itako abilities are for, to force souls to do our personal bidding.  You can’t hold a soul prisoner.  That isn’t right.”

“Why not?”  Now Setsu's tear-streaked face turned toward his cousin.  “And what if he’s already done it? what if he’s already gone? what if… I never see him again…?”  At that, the flood gave way, and he couldn’t stop the sobbing.

Gently Kai wrapped loving arms around Setsu's shaking body and drew him close, not minding the tears that dampened his shoulder.  “It’s all right, Set-chan,” he cooed softly, a cheek resting against Setsu's head.  A comforting hand stroked Setsu's long hair.  “Go ahead and cry.  But don’t worry.  I'm sure we would all feel it if your father’s soul suddenly vanished.  At any rate, I don’t believe that he will give up that quickly or that easily.  Especially when he knows we’re all going to fight for him.”

 

 _to be continued_ …


End file.
